Something In The Water
by SlashtasticFangirl
Summary: While exploring on an alien planet, Spock and Kirk are instructed to drink from a sacred river and 'receive their destinies'. But the water has strange effects on Spock, who essentially gets trapped in his own mind. Did the aliens know this would happen? It is up to Kirk to find out and free Spock, so that the two can find their destinies through each other. Spirk- Kirk/Spock


~~~A/N: I got the idea for this from TOS episode 'Wink of an Eye.' However, you don't have to know anything about that episode to follow this. I really only took the idea of alien river water doing strange things to members of the Enterprise. Also, as cool as it would be, I own nothing related to Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry and his affiliates are the lucky ones who do. :) Enjoy!

James Kirk had never been an overly-analytical man. He was brilliant, yes, with aptitude tests off the charts and a stellar reputation in Star Fleet for being one of the bravest, youngest, and luckiest captains out there. Yet still, smart and accredited as he was, he had never seen fit to dwell on detail unnecessarily or obsessively. Until now, that is. It had all started when Doctor McCoy 'requested' that he get his ass to sickbay immediately. Being the way he was, Jim simply assumed that his friend was being irritatingly paranoid about his health and thought nothing more of it. Boy, was he wrong- and as soon as he stepped into the med bay, he knew it. There, sitting ramrod straight on an exam table with his back to Kirk, was Spock, his loyal friend, First Officer, and unrevealed source of affection. He was being poked and prodded by hypos, and Bones, although he had appeared relatively calm when he called Kirk, was clearly frazzled.

"Jim, get over here!" McCoy yelled, quickly grabbing the captain by his arm and yanking him over to Spock. "I don't know what's going on with the hobgoblin yet but Christ, just look at him!"

Kirk gasped when he saw Spock's face: his deep brown eyes turned glossy and unfocused, his expression confused, and his general look askew.

"Spock! Spock, answer me dammit, what's wrong?!" Kirk demanded, grasping the half-Vulcan's shoulders tightly to shake him. Spock's rigid body didn't even have the grace to budge. "Bones, what do we do?" he begged.

"That's the thing, Jim, I don't know! I've scanned him for every known disease possible, given him a dozen hypos, checked his vitals- and nothing. I can't tell what's wrong with him medically, but I'll be damned if that means he's fine and ready to go off on another mission! Look, if I can't see what's wrong with him, I can't fix him. Is there anything you can tell me about yesterday's mission that might give me a clue as to what I can do to help the poor bastard?"

And so the wheels in Jim's brain began to spin, taking him back to the planet and analyzing every little detail. The color of the trees, the time of day, the direction of the wind, and how the amiable natives had been. It was when he thought back to the river that everything clicked.

"I've got it!" Jim yelled. "Bones- when we were at the sacred Armalian river, they told us to drink from it and 'receive our destiny'. Now I don't know what they meant by destiny, but there might have been-"

"Something in the water," McCoy finished. "And you're sure that no one else in the landing party drank from it?"

"No one else," Kirk affirmed, "The Armalians only let Spock and I drink, saying something about his 'revelation.' Dammit, I-I just don't get why he's acting like this while I'm fine. Spock tested the water first with his tricorder and everything . . ."

McCoy shook his head in wonderment and ran a hand through his hair. "Why is it always you two that wind up in these situations?" he grouched as he plunged another hypo into the Vulcan's neck.

Jim tried to grin through his apparent nervousness, and said: "Honestly, Bones, I've been asking myself the same question since the day I met him. But to be fair, you're usually involved, too."

"Only because you drag me along," the doctor grumbled as he pulled on gloves and took a sample of Spock's forest green blood.

Feeling helpless and stressed, Kirk sat beside Spock on the exam table and looked into his friend's unblinking brown eyes. When McCoy took the blood over to a centrifuge in the adjacent room, Jim leaned closer to Spock and whispered : "I don't even know if you're able to hear me right now since you're practically a statue, but we're really worried about you, Spock . . . especially me. But-" he choked on his words, "but McCoy is doing his best, and if I have to go planet side and kick some Armalian ass till they undo whatever it is that their stupid water did to you, I won't hesitate. We _will _find a way to fix you, no matter what. I promise."

Jim's eyes were stinging with a need to water as he looked into the other's eyes, but the man beside him remained motionless and gave no indication of having heard him at all. The captain muffled a small sob, and did his best to remain composed as McCoy re-entered the room. Kirk quickly turned his attention to him, hoping that his face would not reveal his urge to cry. "Did you find anything?" he asked.

McCoy nodded. "Yeah, a minor hormonal spike in his blood. Then I re-checked the scan I took of his brain, and I may have found something else."

The captain sprang up - the scan had found something! "What is it, Bones? Can it be cured?"

"When I looked at the scan, I though that something looked off compare to normal. I compared this scan to the scan from his last check-up, and I found that his frontal and temporal lobes are showing signs of increased activity in the regions which control emotions. He's undergone a large increase in the amount of Serotonin in his brain, though I can't imagine why a drink from an alien river would affect that, or why it would make him act like this for that matter . . ."

"Is there a way you can you treat him?" Kirk asked, desperately hoping the answer would be yes.

"I don't know yet, Jim, it's only a possible attribute to his condition. I have to run some more tests and go over my data again before I can draw any type of conclusions. Also, I need to scan your brain as well. You aren't showing the symptoms he is, but you're not a hobgoblin like he is so you might just be handling it better. Now hold still while I scan you," the doctor said as he waved a scanning device over and around Jim's head.

Kirk sighed and looked worriedly at Spock, hoping with all his might that McCoy would be able to fix him before he was seriously affected.

Eventually, after it was revealed the he only had a very small hormonal rise to his name, Jim was kicked out of med bay so that he could give Bones and his assistants more space to work. But he was antsy, so he decided to go planet side and talk to the Armalians. If he could find out what affects the water had on the other humanoids, perhaps he could better judge its affects on he and Spock. It wasn't long before he came to stand on the beaming pad, accompanied by translator Uhura, two guards, and a science officer.

Lieutenant Uhura noticed the tense look on her captain's face immediately and felt a sharp stab of sympathy. She too was worried about her former boyfriend Spock, and she could tell that Kirk was near the edge of panic. Hoping to console him, Uhura put her hand on Kirk's shoulder and said: "Don't worry, Captain, Spock will be just fine." A few of the other crew members joined in to express their optimism, and the Enterprise captain reached out to squeeze Uhura's shoulder.

"I hope so," he said tensely.

The moment ended as Scotty's brogue rolled over the landing party. "Are ye all ready?" he asked.

The crew nodded, as did Jim when the Scotsman sent him a particular and understanding glance.

"A'right, then, energizin'!" he called, and with a hum of electricity and light, the crew was sent down to the surface to confront the Armalians.

Having been beamed into the center of the Armalian capital, it didn't take long for the Enterprise crew to find their way to the leader's abode. They were welcomed in with open arms (of which the Armalians had four apiece), but Kirk felt a bit nervous. After all, their water was doing something strange to Spock, possibly hurting him; were the Armalians really as friendly as they had seemed, or was there an ulterior motive at play? Determined to get answers, he dispatched his science officer and two guards down to the river to take more scans, as he and Uhura sat down with the Armalian leader, Nahjula.

Nahjula was a wise leader in the later half of her second century being alive. She ruled fairly, and her people prospered within the rainy forests of Armal. The Armalians lived in large tree dwellings, and her home in particular resembled an Earthen Birch tree . . . if Birch trees were ninety feet tall and forty feet wide, that is. The room where she sat with Kirk and Uhura was carved out of the tree's massive center, and contained furnishings of wood, precious stones, and massive leaves. As she brushed a strand of fine gray hair out of her face, her bright yellow eyes roved across the Humans with open interest and kindness. She sensed that the male leader was distressed, and she hoped that she could aid him in any way possible. Parting her pale green lips to speak, Najhula's deep voice whispered through the tree as she asked Uhura: _"Why is your leader unhappy, kind translator?"_

Uhura turned to Kirk. "She wishes to know why you are unhappy, Sir."

"Tell her that I am worried about my First-Officer, the other one to drink from the river," Kirk replied.

Uhura translated his answer, and Nahjula posed another question for Uhura to translate.

"Captain, Nahjula is curious about Spock's condition. According to her, the river water should not have had any adverse effects, but rather good ones."

Kirk raised his brow. "Tell her about the state he is in, and ask her what she means by 'good effects'."

The Lieutenant turned her attention to the elder Armalian and said: _"The condition of our man Spock is confusing. He appears to be unresponsive to interaction, and our healer has shown a spike in his hormones. Has the water had effects like this on any of your people, or any of the others who have drank from here?"_

Nahjula shook her head. _"We know not of a visitor who has undergone such a reaction. As with your leader there, the water brings about clarity and realization of destiny, but never a reaction like Spock's."_

Uhura translated for Kirk, then asked: _"What did you mean when you told them to 'receive their destiny'?"_

The Armalian smiled and said: _"The water provides mental clarity, an opportunity to see what is normally not seen in oneself. Even in one such as your Spock, one of great mental strength, I could sense a cloud of denial, something that he was deliberately not seeing. The sacred waters will have cleared and focused his thoughts on the matter, which may have clashed with his already deep mental focus."_

_ "Are you saying that the water has made him focus on one specific thought so hard, that it may have clashed with his meditation and natural urge to think of several things at once?" _Uhura asked. Nahjula nodded sagely.

"Captain!" Lieutenant Uhura said excitedly. "We may have figured out what's wrong with Spock."

Jim nearly shot out of his seat. "What is it?" She explained the theory that she and Nahjula had developed, and he shook his head. "So basically, Spock's train of thought has short-circuited from the magic water making him focus too much on one thing?"

Uhura resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the way Kirk had interpreted her story and said: "Pretty much."

"Then why haven't I experienced the 'mental clarity' she talks about? Even Bones saw that my hormones rose a bit, just not nearly as much as Spock's."

_"Nahjula, we were wondering why my Captain has experienced next to no effects from the water."_

_ "He already knows his destiny" _Nahjula replied, smiling at Kirk. _"We had him drink so that he could capture it."_

After hearing the translation, Kirk got up from his seat, bowed to Nahjula, and told Uhura that it was time to go. As he paged the guards and the science officer that it was time to go, Uhura bowed to Nahjula and thanked her for her time.

The old alien smiled, small wrinkles appearing around the corners of her mouth and eyes. _"It was a pleasure, my dear. You are very wise for your age."_

Lieutenant Uhura blushed at the compliment and said: _"Thank you, Nahjula. I am confident that Spock will be just fine."_

_ "As am I. But do this for me: tell your Captain that their destinies are intertwined, and that it is his knowledge which holds the key to Spock's revelation." _The elder then got up, nodded to the pair, and retreated into another room.

"The rest of the crew is outside waiting for is," Kirk said as they began to leave. "Scotty's waiting to beam us up." The humans stepped onto an elevator-like platform which began to take them to the base of the enormous tree. Uhura was clearly preoccupied, as she said not a word. Curious and slightly concerned, Jim asked: "Hey, are you ok?"

She nodded slowly. "I"m just trying to figure out something that Nahjula said earlier."

"What did she say?" he asked, looking incredibly curious and excited.

"She requested I tell you that your destiny is intertwined with Spock's, and that your knowledge is supposed to let him have the revelation she told you about before." Uhura raised her eyebrow and saucily added: "Sounds like something out of a romance novel to me."

Kirk felt a little embarrassed, but nonetheless grinned and said: "So what if it is?"

"Then you had better prepare yourself," she said with a smile. "According to Nahjula, you're the one who has to say it first."

Jim felt himself get all kinds of nervous at the thought, which considering the amount of times he'd looked death in the eyes without flinching, said a lot. "Uhura, do you . . . do you think it could work? That he would even-"

the Lieutenant cut him off and said: "I don't know, Kirk. But I have a feeling that it will depend on whatever his revelation happens to be." Before he could reply, the platform ended its descent and they were surrounded by the rest of the landing party. Uhura gave her captain one last glance before joining the group and energizing off of the planet.

Ensign Hall, the Science Officer who went planet side on the mission, had nothing to report. She was evidently stressed out as she explained to Kirk the numerous test she had done on the water, with even the samples she tested on the Enterprise disproving the existence of anything unusual in the water. Kirk told her not to worry about it, and after he left Sulu in charge of the bridge, quickly headed toward the med bay. The sight that greeted him was surprisingly better than he had expected- though Spock was still on an exam table with wires stuck to his head, he was meditating, with his eyes closed and body slightly relaxed. Jim sighed in relief, and quietly gave the Vulcan the once-over before looking for McCoy. The good doctor was in the lab, a room adjacent to the center med bay. He was studying a padd intently, but he glanced up as the Captain approached.

"About time you got back," he said. "As you can see, he's doing better."

"How much better?" Kirk asked warily.

McCoy sighed. "Well, his hormone levels are still above normal, and I can't seem to make him snap out of his meditation for the life of me. He looks better on the outside, but all he's really done is change positions. What did you find out? I heard that Ensign Hall found nothing in the water."

Kirk explained what Uhura and Nahjula had said about the water's possible effects on the mind of one as smart and complex as Spock, and how he was essentially 'short-circuiting' from the strain of focusing so hard on one subject.

"Well, it still doesn't account for your hormonal rises, but at least I can see why he's been affected while you haven't. Did she mention a way to fix him?" McCoy asked, feeling genuine concern for the pointy-eared bastard in the next room.

"Yes," Jim said, "but it's a bit confusing and a lot intimidating." He went on to explain what Nahjula had said about their destinies, leaving nothing out. "Bones . . . you might bitch too much at times, but you know you're my best friend, right?" Jim asked nervously.

McCoy looked at him confusedly and replied: "Well, you might brag too much at times, not to mention drag my sorry ass into situations like this, but yes. You know I'm here for ya, Jim," he said firmly, putting his hand on Kirk's shoulder.

"Good to hear, because I'm about to be very honest with you. I think I get what Nahjula wants me to do. I think Spock needs to hear me say I . . . I love him. Because I do, I have for awhile, and I just-" he looked at McCoy firmly "I just need to know if- do you think-"

Bones cut him off. "Jim, almost everything you do surprises me; that being said, this doesn't surprise me all that much."

"Really?" Jim asked hopefully.

"You two are the damn dynamic duo," McCoy grumbled. "Always there for each other, saving each other's lives and all that crap. Besides, I saw how Spock reacted when you died. He was hell-bent on killing Khan until we found out he could save you, and then he babysat your bed-ridden ass until you woke up and returned to duty. Honestly, he looked like he had lost his planet all over again. And if you feel this way, if you think you can fix him, then you go for it; no one's gonna stop you."

Relief washed over Jim; it was great to have an understanding best friend. "Thanks, Bones. That being said, can my Vulcan and I have a moment alone please?"

"I'm half surprised you aren't just ordering me out," McCoy joked, giving Jim a slap on the back before he and his assistants cleared out.

This was it- the moment of truth. Kirk gulped and ran his hands through his sandy-blonde hair as he walked up to the motionless Vulcan. Unsure of what to say at first, Jim gently slid the tips of his index and middle fingers up Spock's palm until their digits were aligned. Jim applied a little pressure, hoping he was doing this right since he'd only read about it once in a book on Vulcan culture. The results were instant: Spock's cheeks and the tips of his ears flushed a pale green, and his lips parted slightly. In less than a second from the start of the kiss, Jim could feel the mental pull of Spock's psyche against his own. Exhaling to steady himself, Kirk let Spock into his mind, where their thoughts and emotions merged for each other to see, if they were willing. Jim reveled in the expanse of Spock's mind, the feel of his thought process.

_'Captain.' _Spock's voice rang in Jim's mind, and he saw images of himself floating around in Spock's memories.

_ 'Call me Jim,' _he admonished lightly. _'We're in each other's heads, after all.'_

_ 'True enough,' _Spock's voice said. _'I suppose you are here due to my body's current state?'_

_ 'Right,' _Jim said, thinking with a mixture of relief and sadness that Spock's psyche did not feel their kiss. _'You've worried us all; even Bones was fretting over you earlier.'_

_ 'Not doubt because I, to use the human expression, do not feel like myself today. Which is ridiculous in the sense that I am of course no one other than myself. Still, the problem persists that I do indeed feel 'off'', and nearly incapable of controlling my physical body. I presume this condition is due to the Armalian river water?'_

_ 'Right again. Uhura and I spoke with Nahjula earlier; this is all supposed to be a side-effect of you attaining your revelation. So have you?'_

Spock's essence seemed to retreat a bit. _'Perhaps,' _he said quietly. _'I trust that you have realized what your destiny is as well, Jim?'_

Thehalf-Vulcan could sense Kirk's nervousness as he said: _'Yes, I have. And . . . it is intertwined with yours.'_

_ 'Not surprising,' _Spock said nonchalantly. _'We are to be together on this ship for years to come- it is only natural to assume that we would have connected 'destinies.'_

If Kirk were in control of his physical body, his jaw would have dropped; Spock had practically just admitted that they were going be together forever! Jim's psyche glowed with happiness, and he felt more confident that this was going to end well.

_'Yeah, about that-there's something I have to tell you, something that Nahjula said will bring you back to normal. Something that I should have told you while ago . Spock . . .'_

_ 'Yes, Jim?'_

_ 'I love you.'_

There was an agonizing pause, and then Jim felt himself pulled away from Spock's mind and into physical reality. But before he could panic, he saw Spock unfold himself from the meditation pose and stretch his limbs gracefully. Jim wanted to shout for joy that his beloved First-Officer was again mobile, but there was still the matter of his recent confession.

"Spock, I-"

"I felt it," Spock said, drawing himself up and boring his chocolate-brown eyes into Kirk's ice-blue ones. "I felt your kiss."

Jim was surprised. "I thought you hadn't . . . What did you think?"

Spock's boots tapped lightly against the smooth floor as he took the step toward Jim. He extended his left hand, the two fingers held up as he folded the others down. Optimistic, Jim raised his right hand and mimicked the pose.

"This is what I thought of your kiss," the half-Vulcan said huskily, fitting the tips of their fingers together. Jim gasped; now that Spock was conscious, he could feel the hum of his emotions and his desire in the kiss. And that was almost nothing compared to the view- Spock's eyes were half-lidded, his lips slightly parted, and his cheeks and ears were glowing green. Unable to help himself, Kirk leaned forward further until their lips met in a Terran kiss, which Spock returned happily. When they broke apart for air, Spock stated: "You know what my revelation was, Jim."

Kirk nodded; it was plain to see why Nahjula had selected them to drink from the river.

"Then you know that your love is reciprocated," Spock whispered, looking almost bashful as he admitted to such deep emotion.

"I do," Jim said, joy and contentment flowing through him. He had never been happier, and through the bond that sparked through their joined fingers, he could tell that Spock felt the same. "You know, it's getting pretty late," Jim said. "Are you up for some dinner and a game of chess?"

Spock's lips twitched into a little smile. "Nothing would please me more." And so they abandoned the medical bay, reveling in their new found understanding.

The mess was abuzz with conversation, with remarks and queries such as "When did it start?", "I'm happy for them!", and "Spock has feelings?!" circulating among the enterprise crew left and right. Uhura simply smiled and shook her head; she had seen this coming from a mile away. The newest couple to form on the Enterprise held hands in front of the crew, and whistles and cheers broke out all around. The couple took their meal to Spock's room, and at a corner table in the mess, one grumpy Southern doctor sat drinking whiskey and complaining about hobgoblins and their damn revelations.

~~~I know, that was sooo cheesy. Tell me what you think! Reviews are very much appreciated. :)


End file.
